This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1968. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

Why Historical Insurance Policies May Be Accessible

Pre-1986 Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies were occurrence-based and did not contain an effective pollution exclusion in Washington. If contamination occurred while those policies were active, those historical insurance carriers may still have a legal obligation to fund the cleanup costs, even if the business closed or the property changed hands.

Metal finishing and solvent operations at this property began in 1968, placing the originating contamination squarely in the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. TCE and cadmium releases from industrial dip tanks and painting processes are precisely the kind of slow, cumulative discharges those pre-1986 policies were written to address. The documented remediation trail — a UST removal, decades of quarterly groundwater monitoring, and continuing VCP oversight through at least 2025 — represents expenditures tied directly to operations that pre-1986 carriers insured, making historical policy recovery a viable avenue for costs already incurred and those still to come.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.